Medieval England

Chapter 2

Medieval England

Norman and Plantagenet, 1086-1199

William I “The Conqueror” had three sons:

• Robert Duke of Normandy
• William II “Rufus”, who became king of Englandwhen his father died
• Henry who became king of England after his brother William

Relations between William’s sons were bad. From 1089 to 1096 there was war in Normandy between Robert and William II “Rufus”. William defeated his brother. William I’s policies of centralization were pursued by his son William II but never accomplished. William “Rufus” was killed by an arrow in a hunting accident in 1100. Henry succeeded his brother as the king of England.

Henry I had problems, just from the start, with his brother Robert Duke of Normandy. They met in battle at Tinchebrai 1106. Robert was beaten and condemned to perpetual imprisonment until his death. At Tinchebrai, Englishmen fought for Henry I; this is the first sign of identification of interest between the English population and a Norman ruler. Henry became the ruler of England and Normandy as a consequence of his victory at Tinchebrai.

Henry I established a group of judges who toured each region of England holding court in the cities they came to. He also imposed the Exchequer a system con control monetary and fiscal matters that still works today. At this moment England has the most centralised government in Europe.

Henry’s son, William, was drowned in 1120. This fact provoked the dispute of the crown of England. Henry’s daughter, Matilda, first married Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and on his dead she secondly married Geoffrey Count of Anjou. At these times, it was unacceptable that a woman would become ruler of a country. When Henry I died in 1135, Matilda was pushed aside by Stephen, son of Adela, daughter of William “The Conqueror”.

Stephen was king from 1135 to 1154. There was civil war until 1153, when by the treaty of Winchester it was agreed that Stephen will rule until his death, and Prince Henry, the son of Matilda, would become king after Stephen.

In 1150, Henry became Duke of Normandy; in 1151 he became Count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine. In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine divorced Louis VII of France and remarried Henry. She brought large parts of the south of France under the rule of Henry. And in 1154, he came to the throne of England.

Henry II reinforced the weak administration after Stephen’s government. He created the common law system by which every freeman had the right to plead in royal courts, even against his feudal lord. The Exchequer was also remodelled.

Henry’s power was defied by the kings of France who were alarmed because the major part of France was in English hands. In the Middle Ages there was a continuous conflict between the monarchs and the Church. The Church claimed that the appointment of bishops was its own right. But Kings thought that they must take part on these appointments; since bishops had a great deal of influence in state affairs.

In 1162, Henry II decided to appoint his personal friend Thomas Becket to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Henry though that Becket would foster a friendly relationship with the Church. But, Becket followed his religious ideals and denounced Henry II for the irregular appointment. In 1164, Henry exiled Thomas Becket. In 1170, Becket returned to England and condemned the archbishop of York and other six bishops who had crowned Prince Henry the heir apparent in Becket’s absence. Henry was upset, and asked who could rid him of Thomas Becket. Four knights went to Canterbury where they killed Thomas Becket as he was standing in the altar.

The murder of Becket shocked the whole Christendom. The king was obliged to do penance in public for Becket’s death. In 1172, the feud between Henry II and the Church was settled at Avranches. It was agreed that the Church would invest the archbishops, but the king had to be consulted in the election of candidates.

In 1171, Henry II assumed the lordship of Ireland. War with France continued. And he also had to fight his sons Henry, Richard, Geoffrey and John. Prince Henry died, and when Henry II died in 1189, his second son Richard became king of England.

Richard I was a great soldier. He spent most of the time in the Holy Land fighting against the Moslems in the third Crusade. Richard entrusted the government to William Longchamp, bishop of Ely. Prince John, brother of Richard received six counties in England. John was jealous of Richard and Longchamp’s power and allied with the French King Phillip Augustus to fight against them.

Richard I shipwrecked in the Adriatic and the duke of Austria took him prisoner. John declared that his brother had died and made himself king. But the news that Richard was still alive spread. The English paid a gigantic ransom to free his king. Richard arrived in England in 1194, but had to move to France to defend his possessions. He died in 1199 in one of these struggles.

Magna Carta and Parliament, 1199-1272

Richard I was succeeded by his brother John. He was an ill-tempered man, vicious and jealous, but at times brave, energetic and resourceful. John “Lackland” had three main problems:

• The power of nobility was increasing.
• Possessions in France were more difficult to rule.
• The Church wanted much power as possible. Innocent III was one of the strongest and most militant popes in history.

Arthur, Prince of Brittany, the son of Geoffrey, allied with the French king Phillip Augustus. John fled to Normandy to fight the French army in 1202. One year later, John captured Arthur and probably killed him. War with France continued, and in 1204 the English lost Normandy.

In 1206, Pope Innocent III rejected John’s candidate for the vacant see of Canterbury. Innocent III chose his man Stephen Langton. John rejected Innocent’s choice, and the pope place England under an interdict[1] from 1026 to 1212. In 1209, Innocent III excommunicated John. Phillip Augustus and the Pope formed alliance against John and, John was obliged to give in to the papacyin 1215. But John’s diplomatic skills turned this situation into a friendly relation with Rome when John offered Innocent England as a fief (that is, John became a vassal of the pope). Innocent III broke immediately the alliance with France. Nevertheless, John was defeat in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 in his French campaign.

The costs of wars with the papacy and France upset the nobility. Taxation was heavily increased and John used every available mean to collect money. After John’s concordat with Innocent III, the EnglishChurch was flooded with appointees of the Pope. Thus, in 1215, the richest and most powerful sections of English society – merchants, aristocrats and the Church – met at Runnymede to force King John to agree the terms of the Magna Carta, or Great Charter. This document settled down the rules that a feudal king must follow. It listed the abuses of the king and the remedies for these wrong deeds. Magna Carta increased the power of the barons who from now on will be involved in political affairs. Rich and powerful, the barons could cause many troubles with their fights with each other and with the king.

John had no intention of agreeing to Magna Carta without a fight. Some of the barons allied with the French King Phillip Augustus to fight against John. When John died, England was completely involved in the war against the barons.

John’s dead abated the warfare. His son, Henry was only nine and a regent government was established until 1234. By 1217, Henry III’s guardians triumphed and the French withdrew. Magna Carta was reissued and regents were obliged to look after the country.

From 1234 to 1258, Henry III ruled on his own and many favourites crowded the court. Favourites flattered rather than advised Henry III. Barons took offence at their exclusion from royal councils.

Henry married Eleanor of Provence in 1236. many of her relatives came to England and held high offices. The king’s sister, Eleanor, married a Frenchman, Simon de Monfort. This favouritism towards Frenchmen upset English nobility.

In 1252, Henry withdrew his brother-in-law from Gascony, where he had been royal commissioner. Simon had been charged with misgovernment. The barons, who opposed the king, found a leader in Simon de Monfort who formerly had been part of the other side, the favourites.

In 1254, Henry accepted the crown of Sicily from the pope. The maintenance of a distant land required a great amount of money, and Henry III increased taxes and raised money through the Church. In the following years, harvests were bad and hence economic crisis. The increase of taxes was not well received by anybody.

In 1258, a group of barons rebelled. Henry was forced to abandon the crown of Sicily and to accept the Provisions of Oxford that tried to stop the king’s abuses. Four knights supervised each county and the sheriff was the maximum representative of the royal power in counties.

In 1259, the Provisions of Westminster were passed. Knights and barons demanded reforms in baronial administration. A council of fifteen people was appointed to rule the government. But, increasingly, it became very difficult to rule the government through this council and the panel s of knights. The pope condemned the barons and supported Henry in this struggle. Also, the king of France, St Louis backed his fellow sovereign, as a way to show unity among the rulers to fight his subjects in times of rebellion.

Finally the war began. Henry III and his son, Prince Edward led the royalist army and Simon de Monfort commanded the barons.

In 1264, Simon de Monfort defeated the royalists, and Henry III and Prince Edward became prisoners of the barons. Thus, Simon the Monfort became the ruler de facto of England. Simon summoned a parliament of knights and burgesses to help in the task of government. Simon was supported by the middle classes and the clergy; but the barons disliked this way of government and the power he wielded. Finally Simon was defeated at the battle of Evesham in 1265.

Henry III’s energies were devoted to rebuild the Westminster Abbey where he would be buried.

The 13th C saw, apart from the emergence of Parliaments, the establishments of universities at Oxford and Cambridge. They were independent institutions. Colleges were founded, each governed by a master.

Late Medieval England

In 1272, Edward I came to the throne of England. His main objectives were the campaigns in Wales and Scotland. He also had to fight in French lands to defend English possessions in the continent.

Edward II, who ruled from 1307-1327, had many troubles with the barons.

Piers Gaveston was a French favourite of Edward II. The barons rose against Edward and beheaded Gaveston in 1311.

The Scottish victory over the English army at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 ensured the independence of Scotland from England.

The Queen, Isabella of France, became the major enemy of his husband. She travelled to France where she allied with Roger Mortimer to ensure the crown of England to Prince Edward, son of Edward II and Isabella. In 1326, Isabella invaded England and took the government of England. Edward II was imprisoned where he died in 1327. Isabella and Mortimer ruled over England until 1330, when Edward III became king of England.

Edward III was a popular and great soldier. He spent most of his efforts fighting in France. Through his mother, he claimed the throne of France. In 1337, Edward refused to pay any homage to king Phillip of France. The Hundred Years’ War against France began[2].

In 1304, the French and English navies met at the battle of Sluys; the English navy won and took the control of the Channel.

In 1346, Edward invaded France. The English were trapped by the French in Crécy, but the English archers, equipped with the longbow, cut down the French knights. The battle of Crécy ended in English victory.

In 1355, the war was renewed. Edward’s son, Edward, the Black Prince, defeated the French at the battle of Poitiers. John, king of France, was taken prisoner. In 1360, France and England signed the Treaty of Bretigny, by which England took possession of Gascony and Aquitaine. John was freed on the payment of a gigantic ransom.

The most significant point of this first phase of the Hundred Years War was that the French army could not beat the English troops, but at the same time, England could not completely conquer France.

In 1377, Edward was succeeded by his grandson, Richard, the son of Edward, The Black Prince who had died one year earlier.

Richard was only ten years old, and the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster took the government as the head of a regency council. John faced a troublesome period:

• England was suffering the consequences of the Plague[3].
• Feudalism was collapsing after the Plague.
• Reduction of population meant a reduction of the workforce and a shortage of labour.

It was not possible to keep peasants in one estate when another lord was willing to offer employment at higher wages. Thus, in 1355, The Statute of Labourers concluded that the peasants had to ask permission to move from one estate to another. This Statute was a tool to maintain the Feudal system. Peasantry directly rejected the Act. Besides, peasants had to pay heavy taxes to maintain the war with France and the expensive English administration.

In 1381, Wat Tyler led the Peasants’ Revolt. They marched to London where they killed the archbishop of Canterbury, among other members of the administration. Richard II and the rebel leaders met at Smithfield. Peasants demanded:

• The repeal of the Statute of labourers.
• The abolition of villeinage (serfdom).
• The division of Church property.

Thinking that Wat was going to kill Richard II, the mayor of London killed Wat Tyler. The king took charge of the situation. The crowds were dispersed quietly. No petition was conceded and the rebels were punished.

The religious reformer John Wycliffe, and his followers, the Lollards, also were prosecuted and punished by the aristocracy and the monarchy. His reform was based in the eradication of the church corruption.

Influence in royal affairs also brought Richard problems. Richard made a party where some members of the nobility were excluded such as the earls of Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick. The nobility attacked Richard’s party in 1386. Some members of the royal party were killed. Richard was able to avoid death.

In 1396, Richard declared himself on age. After the death of his first wife, he remarried Isabelle of France. Richard made peace with France, thus reducing the expenditure to become more independent from nobility and Parliament. One year later, Richard got rid of his enemies: Gloucester was killed, and Warwick and his cousin Henry of Lancaster, the son of John of Gaunt, exiled.

In 1399, Henry of Lancaster returned to England and captured and defeated Richard. Henry declared himself king of England. The House of Lancaster seized the power in the figure of Henry IV. The House of Lancaster sprang from John of Gaunt, son of Edward III. But Edward had eleven children and the House of York, through the House of Mortimer also had a strong claim to the English throne. From this moment on, the throne of England had two claimers: the House of York and the House of Lancaster. Both Houses began a war for the throne of England, the famous War of the Roses which lasted from 1455 until 1485. The emblems of both Houses were a rose: Lancaster a red rose; and York a white rose.

Henry IV was succeeded by his son, the famous Henry V, in 1413. His major issue was the war with France. He reopened the war to occupy the nobility and to enlarge the territories in France. In 1415, Henry defeated a superior French army at the battle of Agincourt. In 1420, by the treaty of Troyes, Henry V was recognised as the heir of Charles VI of France. Henry married Katherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI, to ensure bonds with the French monarchy. Nevertheless, Henry V died suddenly in 1422, two months before Charles VI died. The imperialistic ambition of Henry V was thwarted[4] by only two months.